Psychiatry in Vilnius in 16th-20th centuries: review on social transformations
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Lietuvos istorija; Medicinos istorija; Prieglaudos; Ligoninės; Psichiatrija. Keywords: The Lithuanian history; Medical history; Hospitals; Infirmary; The Psyhiatry.
ENThere issue of Psychiatry in Vilnius is unexplored field especially in a terms of its social aspects. Most of the former papers devoted to psychiatry in Vilnius were written in descriptive manner or they were uncritical case studies of one or another hospital. One of the first successful studies that was constructed by using modern methodology was a monograph of Dr. Tomas Vaisėta that described a social features of Vilnius psychiatry. However, the study is devoted to a late period – Soviet psychiatry only. Therefore the modern analysis of earlier periods and other Vilnius hospitals was still missing. In our article, we set us a goal, namely, to find the most important features, the so‑called paradigm fractures in the social history of Vilnius psychiatry. The main tendency which should be emphasized was uneven development of Vilnius psychiatry, especially in a terms of attitude towards the patient. In most cases that could be interpreted in a light of a broader Global context. In Vilnius hospitals just like in other countries mentally ill were discriminated because of their unclear social and economic status. In the earliest period the mentally ill as an outcast of society is being locked in a jail‑like mental hospitals or fall into complete favor of the monastery hospices. The 19th century positivism at least theoretically brought humane paradigm to Lithuanian psychiatry. However, because of the limited medical measures as well as economic reasons the later period was marked by the realism or even negativism of semi‑modern interwar psychiatry.Mentally ill again falls into a status of outcast or a burden to the society. The question of responsibility towards mentally ill is avoided by the community as well as by state. Nevertheless, some original solutions were found in Vilnius district. The mentally ill were employed in local farms that at‑least partly solved the issues of economic burden. Moreover, there were some more tendencies that do not fit in the global narrative. Despite the technical advance in treatment that gradually enabled the psychiatrists to help the patient, in the Soviet period we observe the opposite tendency that was to restrain and harm the mentally ill patient. In many cases even totally healthy people were misdiagnosed to be mentally ill and received harsh chemical treatment and isolation because of their personal criticism towards totalitarian Soviet system. [From the publication]
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